Traces of Legionella bacteria have now been identified in two of the cooling towers at Faltec Ltd in Boldon, South Tyneside, Public Health England (PHE) have said.

At the weekend a fifth case of Legionnaires’ disease was identified in a person who works at the factory, bringing the total number of now confirmed cases to five. This person required treatment in hospital but has since been discharged. Four cases have worked at the Faltec site and one is a resident whose garden overlooks the site.

On Wednesday, the company was closing down all cooling towers on the site, replacing them with sealed water chiller units which do not present a risk of legionella infection.

Dr Tricia Cresswell of the North East PHE Centre said: “The incident control team was concerned to hear that legionella bacteria have been identified in the two cooling towers. Closing down all the cooling towers removes any risk from that source.

“The company is continuing to co-operate fully with the investigation.”